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FRIDAY, May 30, 2014 (HealthDay News) -- Why do male babies
have a tougher time in the womb than their female
counterparts?

A new study suggests that the placenta -- the organ that
connects the developing fetus to the mother and provides
nourishment in the womb -- plays a major role in creating
differences that go beyond the obvious physical differences
between the genders.

"Our research has found that there are undeniable genetic
and physiological differences between boys and girls that
extend beyond just the development of their sexual
characteristics," study co-author Claire Roberts, leader of the
fetal growth research priority for the University of Adelaide's
Robinson Research Institute in Australia, said in an university
news release.

"We've known for some time that girls are clearly winning in
the battle for survival, with markedly better outcomes for
female babies for preterm birth, stillbirth, neonatal death and
other complications after birth, such as macrosomia [a baby
that weighs more than 8 pounds 13 ounces at birth]," Roberts
said. "Male babies generally grow faster and bigger than
females. This occurs in both the animal and human worlds, but
until now we haven't really understood how or why."

In the new study, researchers found that genes produced by
the placenta are different in males and females.

"We found that with female babies, there is much higher
expression of genes involved in placental development, the
maintenance of pregnancy and maternal immune tolerance," study
co-author Sam Buckberry, a graduate student at Adelaide, said
in the news release.

Roberts pointed out that "these findings may be important to
help guide future sex-specific therapeutics [treatments] for
pregnant women and for babies in the neonatal nursery."

The study is published in the May 27 online issue of the
journal Molecular Human Reproduction.

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